وَإِنّي لَحَيٌّ إِن شَهدت جَمالَهُ

وَإِنّي لَحَيٌّ إِن شَهدت جَمالَهُ

فَإِنّ شهودَ الحِبِّ نِصفُ الحياةِ

فَإِنّ شهودَ الحِبِّ نِصفُ الحياةِ

And I am indeed alive if I behold his beauty;

Though I see his beauty's attestation grants me life

for beholding the beloved is half of life.

For lovers find in seeing beauty life's delight

وَمَيتٌ إِذا قَد غابَ عَنّي جَماله

وَمَيتٌ إِذا قَد غابَ عَنّي جَماله

بِبُعدٍ فَإِنّ البعدَ نِصفُ المَماتِ

بِبُعدٍ فَإِنّ البعدَ نِصفُ المَماتِ

And dead when his beauty has vanished from me

Yet if his beauty from my sight should disappear

through separation, for separation is half of death.

Through absence, for its distance death is halfway here